


Actions Speak Louder than Silence

by narnianvalkyrieofberk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Based on Personal Experiences, Comfort, Sensory Overload, feel all the fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 21:19:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10499670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narnianvalkyrieofberk/pseuds/narnianvalkyrieofberk
Summary: Hunk suffers sensory overload. Thankfully, his space family has found ways to help him recover.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Vaguely based on experiences I've had with sensory overload. Guess I couldn't help but project on Hunk again. :P

Hunk quietly shuffled in through Lance’s slightly ajar door without knocking. Lance looked up and grinned, “So the vampire has finally figured out he’s welcome to come in without knocking, huh?” His demeanor quickly changed when he saw Hunk shifting uncomfortably, debating leaving or staying. “Hey, I just thought it was funny; I’m not mad. You’re welcome in my room any time you want if the door’s open.” Hunk gave a brief smile before sitting in a corner and playing with a slinky he’d pulled from his pocket. “Everyone got a little loud for you, huh?” Hunk gave a small nod. “Well, you’re welcome to chill in here for as long as you want. Are you okay with music?” Hunk nodded again, and Lance turned on some calming songs that he knew Hunk liked. Hunk smiled and began moving his slinky to the beat of the music.

The next day, Shiro was surprised when Hunk started clinging to his arm like a small child. “Is everything alright?” Hunk gave a small nod and his fingers started tracing the seams on Shiro’s sleeve. Shiro kept an eye on Hunk, not sure he trusted Hunk to admit when he wasn’t okay. After a few minutes, Shiro realized Hunk was okay enough to not need to shake his head. He just needed someone safe to cling to while his senses tried to calm down after yesterday’s overload. Shiro smiled and started gently humming Hunk’s favorite calming song. Hunk smiled and mustered up enough of a voice to quietly hum along.

The alarm began blaring and everyone ran to their lions. Pidge saw Hunk trembling and stumbling as he ran. She stopped a moment and adjusted some settings on his helmet. “There, now you can hear us talking to you over the com, but other sounds will get dampened or blocked out so you don’t get so much coming at you at once.” Hunk couldn’t muster a smile, but he did give Pidge a quick thank you hug before hurrying to his lion. 

After another stunning victory by Voltron, Keith retreated from the rest of the group. They were always loud and rambunctious after a victory and he just wanted to be calm right now. He passed Hunk who was silently flapping his hands in a secluded hallway. Keith noticed Hunk trying to hide what he was doing as Keith walked by. “Dude, you can stim if you want. You’ve seemed pretty wound up lately, I bet stimming could help you get some of that excess energy out.” Hunk gave a small smile and resumed his flapping. A little while later, Keith brought him a bottle of water so he would stay hydrated. Hunk stopped flapping just long enough to take a big swig of the water. Keith smiled a little, glad that his friend was taking better care of himself than he sometimes did after an especially bad episode with sensory overload. 

Coran noticed Hunk a few hours later rolled up in a blanket and sitting quietly in the control room. “Hello there, Hunk!” Coran greeted cheerily. He noted Hunk’s lack of verbal response and his tapping feet. “I was going to work on checking the systems in here and listen to some music. How would you like to be—Oh, what do you humans call it? Max mister? Mice mover? er…. Oh, mix master!” Hunk nodded and happily took the remote that Coran handed him. Coran didn’t even mind listening to obscure earth music he’d never heard of before; he actually quite liked several of Hunk’s choices and added them to one of his own playlists.

“Hello, Hunk, how are you doing?” Princess Allura asked, hoping he wasn’t too badly shook up after having two days with major sensory issues in a row. Hunk smiled and gave a thumbs-up. “Can you talk right now?” Allura was pretty sure Hunk did try to talk, but when he opened his mouth, his throat muffled and choked his voice to much for real words to be produced. “It’s alright if you can’t right now, Hunk. Perhaps later I could teach you a little Altean sign language and if you know any from earth you can teach me a bit too.” Allura smiled brightly as she saw how much that suggestion made Hunk’s face light up.

Hunk happily snuggled into his bed that night. Moments from the past two days played over and over again in his mind. Yes, he wished he didn’t have the problems he did with sensory overload. But it meant the world to him having friends who didn’t get mad when he couldn’t talk for a while or when he just needed to cling to someone’s arm like a child for a while. He drifted off to sleep with a bright smile on his face. The next morning, Hunk greeted everyone in the castle with a good breakfast and a cheery “Hello!”


End file.
